Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, August 11, 2013 - Luke 12:32-40

[Note: the KJV and RSV use the more literal "let your loins be girded" in vs. 35.]

"Gird up your loins!" as students we'd say,
Which meant, be prepared, or else, in dismay,
You'd find that a paper, or else a big test,
Would cause you to trip, since you were not dressed
To run your next race - or preach a good word;
Then, girding up loins also meant to be spurred
To walk into the pulpit and be not afraid!
"Gird" also means "belt," and thus fasten your blade,
To do battle with powers that make us believe
Our treasures we make, and not simply receive;
And finally, "loins" means it's not about "me,"
But those who come after, who through me might see
That believing means trusting the master to give
What I hardly expect! But receiving, I live
For the sake of the One who has taught me how grace
Is the treasure of this oft afraid human race.

Scott L. Barton

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasureto give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Makepurses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure inheaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where yourtreasure is, there your heart will be also.“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who arewaiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so thatthey may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessedare those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly Itell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, andhe will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of thenight, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour thethief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. Youalso must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpectedhour.”

About Me

I grew up in the church. I remember my 3rd and 4th grade Sunday School teachers at the Niskayuna (NY) Reformed Church, was baptized and confirmed at Bakerstown (PA) Presbyterian Church where I wrote my first sermon; gave a Youth Sunday sermon at my home church, New Hartford (NY) Presbyterian Church; went to Haverford College and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. Pastorates: Sackets Harbor (Presbyterian), Heuvelton (Presbyterian) and Potsdam (Presbyterian), New York; Bennington, Vermont (Old First Congregational); and Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania (Collenbrook - Presbyterian and U.C.C.), and a “bridge” pastorate at First Congregational Church, Hadley (U.C.C.). I have files upon files of poems for all kinds of occasions, including family greeting cards and personal notes, farewell accolades to colleagues, hymns, and things that just struck my fancy. Retired, I write a poem each week on a lectionary passage. I hope it helps preachers or anybody else who wants to get started thinking about a text in a new way.
Member Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Boston; previously: The Philadelphia Singers Chorale, and Da Camera Singers and Ars Cantorum in Amherst. Tweet @lectionarypoems